For the high rollers among us, $500,000 could be considered chump change. Easy come, easy go.
But for Beacon Youth and Family Center, raking in a cool half-mil is something to celebrate. It’ll go a long way in helping the residential treatment facility carry out its work in turning troubled lives around. Work, by the way, that began in 1970 when Beacon was founded as Court House, Inc.
Viva Vegas was the theme for Beacon’s 2008 Cherish the Children Gala. Jamie Angelich was the chief croupier;Annabel Bowlen and Pamela O’Neal served as honorary chairmen.
Bowlen, whose husband, Pat, owns the Denver Broncos, founded Cherish the Children Guild. O’Neal is in her second term as president of it.
Interior designers Marc Roth and Jim Pfister, whose clients have included the late New York hotelier Leona Helmsley, once again donated their talent to make the party area — the Hyatt Regency Tech Center’s grand ballroom — come alive. Expert use of color, lighting, glittery backdrops and flowers from Newberry Bros. combined for a look that was pure Vegas Strip.Maureen Brooks of Brooks International booked the entertainment, a host of Sin City’s top impersonators who brought such showroom headliners as Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Cher, Tina Turner and Barbra Streisand to the Denver stage.
Costumed showgirls mixed and mingled during cocktail hour, and led the conga line that brought guests to their tables for a shrimp and chicken dinner. And when it came time for emcee Vic Lombardi to come to the stage, two of them escorted the CBS4 sports anchor to the microphone.
One of the people he introduced was his new colleague at CBS4, news anchor Karen Leigh, who turned quite a few heads in her white satin strapless cocktail dress. Both Lombardi and Leigh enjoyed their dinner with The Boss, CBS4 General Manager Walt DeHaven, whose wife, Wendy Aiello, served as gala public relations chair.
Intentionally or not, the entertainment wound up being interactive.
Never one to just sit on the sidelines, Jim Pfister didn’t hesitate when “Cher” spotted him at the Bowlens’ ringside table and pulled him on stage with her. She plopped a Sonny Bono-style wig on his head and instructed him to sing along. Dude can carry a tune! “You would have thought he was a plant but he wasn’t,” Jamie Angelich confirmed.
Also lured by the bright lights: committee member Suzy Hamilton, who strutted her stuff as an impromptu backup dancer to Tina Turner. “Those Texas girls know how to do it!” Angelich added.
Angelich, who came to Denver from her native Texas, was accompanied by hubby Alan, a retired founder of Janco Partners, and her sister and brother-in-law, Lynn and Jim Miles of Fort Worth.Sharon Magness Blake and Ernie Blake headed the fund-raiser’s corporate committee, and filled their table with such friends as Dan and Aimee Sporer Caplis; Rich and Holly Kylberg (Rich was looking suave in a Sinatra-style hat and suit); David Alexander; and Yvonne and Bill McCallum.Debra McKenney rounded up some amazing items for the live auction, but was unable to be there to see Paul Behr sell them for equally amazing prices. Don’t feel too sorry for her, though: She was celebrating her birthday in Italy.
Committee member Debi Medved helped Behr promote one of the items, a four-day, $20,000 trip to Lake Louise, Canada, for John F. Kennedy Jr.’s Celebrity Ski Weekend, which attracts the likes of Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin and Kevin Costner. With Medved’s help, it eventually sold for full price.
Ralph and Anne Klomp, owners of Trice Jewelers and recipients of the 2008 Golden Cherub Award for service to Beacon Center, donated a $58,000 diamond necklace for the auction; Lasik specialist Dr. Larry Spivak, there with Andrea Bankoff, stayed in the bidding right up to the minute when he was trumped by Charlie McNeil, who bought it for his wife, Judy.
A silent auction, arranged by Kay Burke and Dayla Newberry, was conducted during cocktail hour.
Not all of the nifty presents were up for sale, though. The gift bags, whose contents were obtained by Judianne Atencio, given to each couple included lip plumper and a makeup consultation from Laura Mercier and Neiman Marcus; a Drambuie liqueur miniature courtesy of Lukas Liquors SuperStore; a spa product and guest pass from Pura Vida and Nectar Spa; candle matches, also from Neiman Marcus; a 30 years of music CD donated by Morton’s DTC; certificates from ReJuv Spa and Palms Tanning Resort Certificate; full-size skin care products from Cosmetic Essence; jewelry polishing cloths from Trice; and a certificate that can be exchanged for a Dimension Z Golf Wedge.Terry Vitale, publisher of Colorado Expression magazine, moved up the press date so gala-goers could take home the very latest issue. Not to be outdone, Denver Magazine publisher Michael Ledwitz, at the event with his wife, Wendy, claimed dibs for next year.
Forty-three people served on the planning committee, and a full 95 percent were there.
Others in the crowd of 600: Beacon Center Executive Director Anne Robinson; board president Michael Miller; Karen Dolan; big ticket sellers Sally Rogers and Andrea Gray; Kevin and Ann Reidy; Bonnie and David Mandarich; Marilynn and Ken Carroll (he’s president of Wild Blue Communications); Stephanie and Perry Odak; Diane Mager with beau Michael Martin; and Drs. Patrick Lillis and Kristin Baird, who had become engaged that very night.
Lillis and Martin also had birthdays that day, and so as a surprise to them, the committee had decorated their table with hats, horns and streamers.Dick Saunders was there minus girlfriend Jeanne Portmann, who was out of town; Judi Wolf, who is chairing the June 21 National Repertory Orchestra Summer Gala; Neyeska and Steve Mut, who were high bidders on a Malcolm Farley original in the live auction and a fur vest from Andreas’ Furs in the silent bidding; Michael Dunahay; Bob and Ruth Beriault; John and Andrea Dikeou; Kelly (in a vintage white dress that had belonged to her mother) and David Storrs; Julia and Sarah Peay (Julia got the “award” for buying the most items in the silent auction); Denise Snyder, owner of Mariel’s in Larimer Square; Nancy and John Sevo, who were fresh from a Florida vacation; Lisa and Dr. Rick Schaler (who donated a $3,000 Mixto Micro Fractional Laser treatment); Jane and Skip Netzorg; Judith Hirsch Walker and Jim Walker; Diane Metz Kreider with husband and ReMAX executive John Kreider; Linda Christie Horn with Steve Robbins; Deana Perlmutter; and John Faught.

Quote of the evening: “If you died too rich, then maybe you lived too poor…” Ralph Klomp in his acceptance speech, quoting his father.

Pictures taken at Viva Vegas are at denverpost.com/seengallery.

Denver Post Society Editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com

Pictures from Wednesday night’s grand opening gala at Nordstrom Cherry Creek are now posted at denverpost.com/SeenGallery
Check ’em out!
In addition, Society Editor Joanne Davidson’s column about this benefit for Beacon Center and the American Transplant Foundation can be viewed at denverpost.com/davidson

One hundred women who don’t consider shopping a chore — or a bore — were on Cloud 9 when Beacon Center’s Cherish the Children Guild combined its annual membership brunch with an outdoor gourmet market.
The setting was Tom and Joanie Wattles’ expansive backyard in Cherry Hills Village, and Mother Nature did her part by providing a picture-perfect autumn day.
Organizers Jamie Angelich and Sharon Sweeney lined up a host of specialty vendors, including High Country Caprine Cheese, Harriet’s Little Soap Company, Ocean Gems, Madam Pickle, Flower Power, Maple Goods, Kurrants Catering, StoneMar Designs, Minnie Beasley’s Lace Cookies, Chinois Butter Goose Quiche and Shooz, the Cherry Creek North shoe boutique owned by Samantha Castilla, wife of former Colorado Rockies third baseman Vinny Castilla.
Whole Foods donated the baguettes and olive oil that each guest took home in a Cherish the Children tote bag; Castle Pines Golf Club Catering furnished macaroons.
Cherish the Children Guild was founded in 1999 by Annabel Bowlen, whose husband, Pat, owns the Denver Broncos. She also served as president for several terms, before turning the gavel over to the current leader, Pamela O’Neal.
Members of the guild raise money for Beacon Center’s work with abused and neglected children between the ages of 12 and 18, mainly through an annual gala. The Bowlens remain honorary chairs of the gala, and have involved members of the Broncos in the cause.
Jamie Angelich will chair the 2008 gala, and at the membership brunch she said that the date is May 17 and the theme is “Viva Las Vegas.” Angelich also announced that longtime Beacon Center benefactors Anne and Ralph Klomp, owners of Trice Jewelers, will be given the Golden Cherub Award that night in appreciation for the many things they have done for Beacon over the years.
Guests, Angelich added, can expect “great music, great entertainment and some familiar Vegas celebrity faces,” along with the outstanding decor that Marc Roth and Jim Pfister provide every year.
O’Neal also introduced the guild officers for the coming year: Kathy Rubin, Nancy Sevo, Christina Richardson, Gayle Novak, Sweeney and Angelich.
Among those attending the brunch were former Colorado first lady Frances Owens; Carol Roddy; Ryta Sondergard; Jane Netzorg; Suzy Hamilton; Marilynn Carroll; Jeanne Phillips; Danna Weipking, Judianne Atencio; Barbara Goldy; Scottie Iverson; and Diane Kreider.

Pictures taken at the membership brunch can be viewed at denverpost.com/SeenGallery.

Denver Post Society Editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com. Her column appears every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

To say that Denver Health is grateful is an understatement. In fact, administrators are so grateful for the support that nine of the city’s highest-profile women have given to its Newborns in Need program that they have taken to calling Janet Elway, Frances Owens, Susan Kiely, Debra Pain, Sharon Magness Blake, Pam Crowe, Katie Trexler, Peggy Shanahan and Kelly Ford “angels” and paid tribute to each of them at the hospital’s annual gala.
“An Evening with Angels” was the theme for the dinner-dance held at the Adam’s Mark Hotel. Each angel has hosted one or more baby showers for Newborns in Need, a program that provides diapers, clothing, toys and other essentials for the babies born to families that cannot afford them.
Items collected at the showers are given to the families that often have to choose between paying the rent or buying food, let alone be able to purchase new items for their babies. Approximately 4,000 babies are born each year at Denver Health and a signficant percentage of their families live in extreme poverty.
Dr. Patricia Gabow, Denver Health’s chief executive, emphasized her appreciation for the work done by the Angels by pointing out that each of them have full lives of their own.
Janet Elway, for example, is the founder of Janet’s Camp, which sends inner-city children to YMCA summer camp; she also lends support to the Community College of Aurora Foundation scholarship program and Developmental Pathways. Frances Owens, Colorado’s former first lady, is chairing the 2007 Western Fantasy for Volunteers of America and also supports Developmental Pathways.
The Rev. Susan Kiely ministers to low-income seniors while Peggy Shanahan and her husband, Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan, were honored last week for their support of Beacon Center, a residential treatment program for abused and neglected teens.
Katie Trexler and Kelly Ford are local media personalities; Debra Pain oversees the University of Phoenix campuses in Colorado; Pam Crowe, whose husband heads Level 3, is known for her generosity in letting nonprofit organizations use her home for fund-raising events. Sharon Magness Blake is the cofounder of Western Fantasy and supports numerous local causes through her Thunder Foundation.Pictures from the Denver Health Gala are posted at denverpost.com/SeenGallery.Society Editor Joanne Davidson’s column appears every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday in the Scene section. She can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com.

Maybe it’s because of the cold, snowy weather — or today’s gorgeous sun — but one thing is for sure: We are definitely looking forward to visiting the tropics with Beacon Center and The Gathering Place.
Beacon Center’s annual Cherish the Children Gala, on May 5, is a Carnivale Rio-themed dinner-dance; Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and his wife, Annabel, are the honorary chairmen.
On May 19, The Gathering Place Association’s Brown Bag Gala will be An Evening in the Tropics. There’ll be tiki bars, Hawaiian dancers and “beach songs” by the Nacho Men.
Now excuse me as I fire up the blender and search for that lost shaker of salt!Society editor Joanne Davidson’s column appears every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday in The Denver Post. She can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com. She loves a good margarita; in a pinch, a pina colada will do.

Study after study has shown that when it comes to charitable fundraisers, Denver has more per capita than any comparably sized city in the nation. Joanne Davidson has been covering them for The Denver Post since 1985, coming here from her native California where she'd spent the previous seven years as San Francisco bureau chief for U.S. News & World Report magazine.